Three Earnings Plays for Your Watch List
Plenty of investors will have their eyes on MasterCard (MA), looking to get a pulse on the consumer. The stock has been strong lately, breaking out over the past few days. The technical setup into earnings doesn't attract me on the bullish side. In fact, it may retest $450 or even $433 before heading toward $500. Ultimately, I do feel MasterCard will head higher, but I believe earnings will offer a sell-the-news event.
MA Daily StockCharts.com View Chart » View in New Window »Although I looked at Kenexa (KNXA) originally for earnings, there are some things around this company that make it attractive as a longer-term hold for me. Of course, I wouldn't mind seeing the stock take a whack on the heels of its earnings announcement in order to get that entry, but I'm not certain that will happen. Kenexa has seen competitors SuccessFactors and Taleo snatched up for premiums of 52% and 18% respectively, and it now sits as the top HR software/cloud play on the Street. It is only a matter of time before SAP (SAP) or Oracle (ORCL) make a bid for the company, and that is precisely why I'd like to see a pullback on earnings to $30 or preferably $27. Good news should send this one closer to $40 than to $30, but the options are too thin to play. Keep this one on the watch list for a longer-term entry. I don't think it will be around in another year or two....328 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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